Template-driven allomorphy

Mohamed Lahrouchi, CNRS & University Paris 8

Proponents of Generative Grammar argue that components of grammar interact in a

unidirectional top-down manner whereby the output of syntax is sent to the phonological
and semantic components. However, little has been said about the role of morphology in
grammar and more specifically the way templates as fully-fledged morphemes determine
the phonological shape of words as well as the overt realization of certain grammatical
categories. This is particularly interesting in the case of Afroasiatic languages in which
words involve operations internal to the root, as opposed to Indo-European languages,
where discrete and easily identifiable root morphemes are combined with prefixes and
suffixes to form words.
Templates commonly refer to sequences of consonantal and vocalic positions ordered in a
fixed way and designed to convey specific grammatical information. Based on two case
studies in Berber and Arabic, I will argue that certain instances of allomorphy follow from
templatic constraints. In Berber, we examine the reason why the construct state marker w-
never occurs with the gender marker t-. I will show that the apparent allomorphy of the
construct state marker is a matter of templatic competition. This incompatibility results from
competition between phonological exponents of two distinct syntactic projections, viz. nP
and DP. The fact that only one templatic CV unit is available for the phonological
realization of these projections explains why only gender t- surfaces.
In Moroccan Arabic, nouns with more than one plural form will be examined (e.g. tʕəsʕwera

'photo' has plurals tʕsʕawər and tʕəsʕwerat). I will present an interface approach which aims
to determine the structural location of number and capture the empirical contrast between
broken and sound plurals. It will be argued that the sound plurals are associated with the
standard Num projection, whereas the broken plurals are associated lower in the structure
with the n projection. I will also provide a templatic analysis of the diminutive formation,
showing that the diminutive and the internal plural markers compete for the same templatic
position. Therefore, all diminutives systematically resort to -at suf fixation when pluralized.